Behind closed doors.
‘You’re a brute!’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘What right do you have to hit someone?’
Inside the elevator Gu Jiao Wu loomed over Qiao Tan Yuan, but she wasn’t intimidated.
‘Why did you ask him to kiss you?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked. He braced his palms on the wall, and caged Qiao Tan Yuan between his arms. ‘You dared to ask him to kiss you.’
‘So what?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked. ‘It has nothing to do with you. Don’t forget who you are. You’re only my ex-husband.’
‘Ex-husband?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked and his lips moved closer to Qiao Tan Yuan’s lips.
Qiao Tan Yuan turned her head to the side, and Gu Jiao Wu’s lips kissed her cheek.
Gu Jiao Wu held Qiao Tan Yuan’s waist, and kissed her lips to tame his anger. The elevator doors opened, Qiao Tan Yuan pushed Gu Jiao Wu off her and some of her employees entered the lift.
Gu Jiao Wu didn’t kiss Qiao Tan Yuan in front of her employees, but he held her wrist and stood next to her in the elevator.
Qiao Tan Yuan’s employees sensed the tension between Gu Jiao Wu and Qiao Tan Yuan. They were relieved when the elevator doors opened to the ground floor.
Qiao Tan Yuan walked outside, Gu Jiao Wu didn’t let go of her wrist. She couldn’t curse Gu Jiao Wu in front of her employees so she turned around to curse him softly, but her nose hit his hard chest.
‘Ouch…’ Qiao Tan Yuan said and rubbed her sore nose. ‘Gu Jiao Wu, let go of me.’
Gu Jiao Wu silently dragged Qiao Tan Yuan to his car.
‘Gu Jiao Wu, go somewhere else to act crazy,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘Stay away from me.’
Gu Jiao Wu buckled Qiao Tan Yuan in his car, and sped off.
‘Stop the car and let me out,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Qiao Tan Yuan wasn’t a member of the Qiao Household if she let Gu Jiao Wu do as he pleased with her.
‘Gu Jiao Wu!’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Qiao Tan Yuan grabbed the steering wheel, she wasn’t going to let Gu Jiao Wu drive her anywhere except home.
‘Are you crazy?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked.
Gu Jiao Wu regained control of the steering wheel. He glanced at Qiao Tan Yuan like she was crazy. Didn’t she know it was dangerous to grab the steering wheel while he was driving?
‘Yes I’m crazy,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘It was your fault I didn’t return home last night. Did you know Xiao Bao was hungry, and cried herself to sleep last night? What are you doing? Do you want your daughter to die of hunger?’
Gu Jiao Wu suddenly braked, and the drivers behind his car honked.
‘Why aren’t you driving?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked. ‘Why aren’t you taking me wherever you want to take me? Why aren’t you letting your daughter cry at home, and die of hunger?’
Gu Jiao Wu was confused why he spent the night with Qiao Tan Yuan, and didn’t think about their daughter’s welfare. Their daughter was a young baby, and Qiao Tan Yuan was still breast feeding their daughter. He didn’t want their daughter to cry, and die of hunger so he took a U-turn and drove them to the Qiao Mansion.
Xiao Bao was growing bigger by the day. Qiao Tan Yuan worried in a couple of months when her b.r.e.a.s.t.s stopped producing milk, she couldn’t use the same excuse to deal with Gu Jiao Wu.
At the Qiao Mansion, Qiao Tan Yuan got out of Gu Jiao Wu’s car and walked straight to the nursery. Xiao Bao saw Qiao Tan Yuan, and immediately raised her small hands toward Qiao Tan Yuan.
Qiao Tan Yuan carried Xiao Bao in her arms, and all her anger melted away. She carried Xiao Bao to her bedroom to breast feed Xiao Bao while Gu Jiao Wu silently followed them.
‘Go outside,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said to Gu Jiao Wu.
Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t hear what Gu Jiao Wu was mumbling, and Xiao Bao was rubbing her face on her chest. She sighed, took off her jacket, unhooked her bra and pulled down her dress. Xiao Bao quickly drank her breast milk.
‘Pervert,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said to Gu Jiao Wu.
‘It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
Gu Jiao Wu didn’t need to say he did more than look at Qiao Tan Yuan’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s to make her blush. She shook her head to forget about last night. She looked down at Xiao Bao who was still hungry, and pouting small lips. Qiao Tan Yuan supported Xiao Bao’s head on her other arm to let Xiao Bao drink milk from her other breast.
After Xiao Bao was full, she didn’t want to sleep and her small hands played with Qiao Tan Yuan’s dress.
Qiao Tan Yuan ignored Gu Jiao Wu’s gaze, and held Xiao Bao’s small hands to stop Xiao Bao from pulling her dress.
‘Xiao Bao, Xiao Bao…’ Qiao Tan Yuan called.
Xiao Bao heard Qiao Tan Yuan calling her name, and laughed happily. Her small hands pulled Qiao Tan Yuan’s hand into her small mouth.
Qiao Tan Yuan gently pulled her hand out of Xiao Bao’s small mouth, and shook her head.
‘No Xiao Bao,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘You can’t eat mummy’s hand.’
Xiao Bao made baby gibberish sounds, and tried to put Qiao Tan Yuan’s hand back in her small mouth. But Gu Jiao Wu gently held Xiao Bao’s hand. Xiao Bao pouted small lips, and ignored Gu Jiao Wu’s hand.
‘You can go,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said to Gu Jiao Wu.
Gu Jiao Wu gently carried Xiao Bao in his arms. Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t want to injure Xiao Bao and let him carry Xiao Bao.
‘Xiao Bao,’ Gu Jiao Wu called softly.
Xiao Bao cried, and stretched her small arms in Qiao Tan Yuan’s direction.
‘Give back my daughter,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Gu Jiao Wu gently held Xiao Bao’s hand, but she kept crying. He didn’t know why she hated him holding her.
‘Xiao Bao don’t cry,’ Gu Jiao Wu said and gently patted Xiao Bao’s back. ‘Let daddy hold you.’
Xiao Bao didn’t understand Gu Jiao Wu was her daddy. She cried louder, and looked pitifully at Qiao Tan Yuan.
‘Xiao Bao don’t cry,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘Look, your daddy is holding you. I’m your daddy.’
Gu Jiao Wu thought coaxing his daughter was harder than being at work.
Xiao Bao sniffed her nose, looked closely at Gu Jiao Wu’s face and cried softer.
Gu Jiao Wu’s mood improved after Xiao Bao cried softer.
‘Xiao Bao, I’m your daddy,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘Can you say daddy? Daddy…’
Gu Jiao Wu gently swung Xiao Bao’s hand back and forth, and antic.i.p.ated her calling him daddy.
Daddy? Qiao Tan Yuan thought it would be a miracle if Xiao Bao could talk. Xiao Bao was only a couple of months old. Did Gu Jiao Wu actually believed Xiao Bao would open her mouth, and call him daddy?
‘Enough,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said to Gu Jiao Wu. Her heart ached to hear Xiao Bao’s soft cries. ‘My daughter hates you holding her. Give back my daughter.’
End of Chapter Seventy-Five